On 14 August 2002, Prime Minister John Howard and the Prime Minister
of Papua New Guinea, Sir Michael Somare, unveiled a memorial at Isurava
to the Kokoda Track campaign of August-November 1942. The panels on the
memorial commemorate Bruce Kingsbury VC and all the Australians who, together
with their Papua New Guinean allies, endured enormous hardships and made
tremendous sacrifices on the Kokoda Track.

Bill Guest and Colin Blume at
the dedication of the Isuarava memorial.

[Image courtesy of 1st Joint
Public Affairs Unit]

Colin Blume and Bill Guest were part of the Department of Veterans' Affairs
mission to Isurava for the dedication of the new memorial. Both Colin
and Bill had fought in the battles for Kokoda during 1942.

Sergeant William (Bill) Guest, 'A' Company, 39th Infantry
Battalion, sailed on the Aquitania to Papua New Guinea and landed
at Port Moresby on 3 January 1942. The men in 'A' Company trekked over
the Owen Stanley Range and Bill took over the role of platoon commander
when his senior officer contracted malaria. 'A' Company reoccupied Kokoda
on 8 August 1942 but, outnumbered by the enemy and with no hope of resupply,
they were forced to pull out on 10 August.
Although the main
group retreated quickly to Deniki, Bill Guest was responsible for getting
the wounded to safety. He and his party of 21 men spent 6 days trekking
through the jungle with no food and finally rejoined their battalion
at Isurava. The men were sick and weak but fought on when the Japanese
launched a full-scale attack on 27 August 1942. The 39th was saved from
annihilation by the arrival of the 2/14th Infantry Battalion who fought
alongside them, eventually relieving them so they could return to Port
Moresby.

Image courtesy of
Bill Guest.

After Kokoda Bill Guest went with his platoon to Gona
where he took part in the Beachheads battles. Bill contracted malaria
and dengue fever and spent much of 1943 in hospital in Australia. In 1945
he served at Balikpapan in Borneo with the 2/10th Infantry Battalion.

Image courtesy of
Colin Blume.

Colin Blume was a pastry cook from Castlemaine, Victoria
when he enlisted in the AIF in July 1940. He was posted to the 2/14th
Infantry Battalion, part of the 7th Division AIF, and sailed to Palestine
in October 1940. His battalion fought against the Vichy French forces
in Syria in 1941 and remained on garrison duties there before they returned
to Australia in March 1942. In August 1942 Private Blume went to Kokoda
with the 2/14th. They trekked to Myola high in the Owen Stanley Range
and then took part in the hard, desperate fighting around Isurava and
the fighting withdrawal along the Kokoda Track.

Colin was promoted to Sergeant and went with the 2/14th
to fight at Gona during the Beachheads battles as well as the campaigns
in the Markham and Ramu Valleys in Papua New Guinea in 1943-1944.